Welcome to our April newsletter. I hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine and had a lovely Easter break.
Thank you for everyone that supported our quiz night in March. Also, thanks to Ipswich Wanderers Football Club for hosting/sponsoring the event as well as Dick and Kath Calvesbert for doing an amazing job as our quizmasters. It was a fun evening with plenty of laughter and congratulations to the winning team from Kerseys.
Our April networking event is on Wednesday 22nd April at Basepoint Ipswich. Join us for friendly and welcoming networking over coffee or tea. Book your place here.
There is less than a month to go until Anglia Business Exhibition 2026 which is on 13th May at Trinity Park, Ipswich. There are still a small number of spaces available if you haven’t yet booked to showcase your business. Otherwise, make sure you’ve pre-registered for your free visitor place. Don’t miss out on being part of our 30th anniversary year. Email contact@angliabusinessexhibition.com for more info or read our ABE update to find out more.
Our April Member of the Month is Suffolk New College. They have some exciting news to share about fully funded professional development courses for businesses as well as info on how your business can benefit from working with them.
This month, Dan Cocksedge from Switch Direction explains why ongoing training for employees is hugely beneficial to businesses. Read his article here.
Would you like to become an ISSBA patron to be instrumental in taking us forward into the next decade as well as benefitting from an amazing package designed to increase your profile and boost your business? Visit our ISSBA Patron page for the full details.
Reminder to ISSBA members – if you would like to be included in our newsletter as a Member of the Month, please let us know on mail@issba.co.uk so that we can schedule you in. It is a fantastic chance to tell people about what you do or share some exciting news or updates. Alternatively, if there is anything new or exciting going on in your industry (or just something you think people need to know about), we’d love you to write an interesting and useful article for the newsletter. Rather than a sales piece, you’d be providing valuable info to readers but you are welcome to include your logo, contact details and a call to action if you wish.
Remember that if you are an ISSBA member, you can send us your events to include on our website events calendar. Don’t forget to keep an eye on the calendar to see what is coming up. Email details of your events to mail@issba.co.uk.
Don’t forget our Recommend a Friend scheme, it is great to see ISSBA members benefiting from this. Any current ISSBA member will get one month's free membership for each new member they recommend, plus the new member also gets one free month, so Win-Win! There are no limits to how many referrals each ISSBA member can make as long as you have a current, paid up membership, so if you bring in 12 new members, you'll get a whole year for free!
GoCardless is making the renewal process much easier for many of our members. If you haven’t signed up yet, either let us know on mail@issba.co.uk or keep an eye on your inbox for an authorisation request. GoCardless is a direct debit system fully protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee and means that you never need to worry about forgetting to renew again. By signing up to this you will help your committee save valuable time in chasing renewals, so please, if you aren’t already signed up, please do!
Graham Barton, ISSBA Chair